The invention relates to pharmaceuticals, and more particularly relates to pharmaceuticals for use in treating tumors in humans.
At present, tumors are treated either by chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery. Each of these therapies has disadvantages.
It would be advantageous to avoid the disadvantages of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.
One object of the invention is to provide a pharmaceutical therapy for tumors in humans.
An additional object is to provide a biologic therapy for tumors in humans.
Another object is to provide such a therapy which has less disadvantageous side effects than those of other known therapies.
A further object is to provide such a therapy for use with more than one type of tumor.
Yet another object is to provide such a therapy for use in a relatively high fraction of cases.
Still a further object is, in general, to improve on known therapies for treatment of tumors in humans.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a pharmaceutical for treatment of tumors in humans. The pharmaceutical is derived from eggs of a vertebrate species; in a preferred embodiment, the pharmaceutical is derived from embryos of the Rana pipiens frog. The development of the embryos is advantageously halted before gastrulation and preferably at or before the full blastulae (128 cell) stage.
In further accordance with the invention, an extract is formed from the embryos and is detoxified. The final product may be a liquid or a lyophilized solid.
In accordance with the invention, the pharmaceutical is administered to a patient in a therapeutically effective quantity. The preferred method of administration is intravenous injection, but intratumor injection can be used instead.
In the preferred embodiment, the rate of tumor necrosis is limited; there is a limit to the body's ability to reabsorb necrotic cell material and excessive tumor necrosis can itself be an unhealthy condition. To do this, the patient's body functions are advantageously monitored during administration and administration is halted when body functions indicate an excessive rate of tumor necrosis. Such monitoring may advantageously be carried out by monitoring the patient's blood urea nitrogen (BUN), uric acid, total urea, or creatinine, and comparing the current levels of these substances with those existing at the start of treatment.